Neale Wheels – Astro

Spending a rainy day at work at my desk for lunch can be a dangerous prospect – especially when you are somewhat on the look out for a cool period wheel. The funny thing is, I was looking for wheels for my AE82, not the AE95 when these popped up on Gumtree. I instantly phoned the seller to have a chat and grab some extra information on what they were…

Two things instantly came to mind when I clicked on these… God, these are a bit different……. Holy shit! They are staggered!!! They will suit my wagon!

After chatting to the Seller – Who was a super nice dude, I worked out they were a little unique. The barrels are steel and the centres alloy. They are a two piece wheel and that was about all I could work out… It was a slight risk but I figured that these would look super on my car. Especially after I saw this:

This was the selling point. How good does that look! They are a Centra style wheel, so a few googles later I figured they were a take on a Centra wheel.

I asked the world for help making a positive identification and got loads of help – Thanks to everybody that messaged me and helped me get all the information I gathered up.

This all eventuated in me contacting a fella named Chris Neale – Formally Neale Wheels in the eighties. He was able to tell me that he had made the wheels back in the mid eighties, and, that in a 4×100 PCD they would be very low production – Possibly only one of 2 sets produced.

They are called “Astro”

Front – 15×7+12et

Rear – 15×8 0et

The wheels came on Toyo rubber but unfortunately the sizing was wrong for the Corolla and they had gone super hard.

I opted for a full set of Toyo 195/50/15’s with a really neat look on the rear. The wheels still need a really good clean up and I am very keen to give them a much needed bath and a scrub to get them back to their best. At this stage I’m running them as they are and the look awesome! They are so unique and I really like the fact that they are a Euro wheel modified in Australia!

I’m back on my old suspension setup for now with some different coilovers up the front – There will be a post about all of this As loads of people ask how to get a 95 lower.

I’ve bought a set of wheels for my AE82 now also!! I’ll post them up shortly!!